CaHRU engaging with patients and public in research

Over the past year we have continued to engage with patients and the public in our research studies which remains important and essential to our work. This enables our research to focus on what is important for patients, and we include the public in development, design, conduct and dissemination of our research studies.

Over the past year members of the team have made several visits to patients groups. For example Prof Graham Law and Niro Siriwardena each went and spoke to Oakham, Stamford and Uppingham Diabetes Self-help Group chaired by Keith Spurr; Graham spoke on the link between diabetes and sleep and Niro discussed our work on the development of ambulance pathways for people with hypoglycaemia and research on diabetes emergencies in care homes. Recently, Niro also spoke at the Lincoln Branch of the British Federation of Women Graduates on 24th October with a talk entitled “Sleeping on the job” which described the problem of sleep, how this is managed in general practice and what we are doing to try to improve this.

Underpinning this aspect of our work is the Healthier Ageing Patient and Public Involvement (HAPPI) group which a group of members of the public, chaired by Amanda Brewster and co-chaired by Pauline Mountain who have been working with us on several projects over the years, making an important contribution to our work. In the New Year Guido Giarelli an associate professor of Sociology at the University ‘Magna Græcia’ of Catanzaro (Italy), and director of a Masters in “Integrated Medicine” will be visiting the university and CaHRU to further develop his interest in patient and public involvement in health research. We look forward to welcoming Guido and all the opportunities that the New Year will bring.